


last night (i lost all my patience)

by hihigh (girlgroup)



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Play Fighting, Stargazing, Truth or Dare, Vandalism, max thinks rachel wants to hu, she's in love dumb fuck, well aware that 3+1 is an old trope
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:07:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23456767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/girlgroup/pseuds/hihigh
Summary: Max kisses Rachel three times before their first kiss. Time travel is complicated.
Relationships: Rachel Amber/Maxine "Max" Caulfield
Comments: 9
Kudos: 115





	last night (i lost all my patience)

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [we've only got this hundred years](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3704613) by [stiction](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stiction/pseuds/stiction). 



> wrote nearly all of this at 2am this is the mood https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2QK0H720junmzauILqu3AS

1.

Rachel's been staring at Max's side profile with some combination of surprise and longing for the past ten minutes. Surprise because she'd never expected the obedient Max Caulfield to be interested in vandalizing property, and longing because - well.

Max is painting a sure stroke down the wall of the overpass, looking more confident than Rachel's ever seen her in a loose tank and chain - both borrowed. Rachel tilts her head, tries to break her down into manageable pieces. The way her the soft hairs at the nape of her neck tickle the flushed skin below, how she catches her bottom lip under her teeth when she's focused, the dynamic motion of her right arm. It doesn't help at all; Rachel sort of forgets she's supposed to be spraying her own thing after a while.

The hiss of her bottle slows, then stops.

"Enjoying the view that much, huh?" Max asks.

"Pretty much," Rachel responds, but no amount of snark can mask the way her whole face flushes at being caught. This isn't her - getting flustered, doing the watching. Usually it's the other way around, but she finds that she doesn't quite mind with Max.

"Well, it's done now. You should've taken a video, it would've lasted longer."

"Exhibitionist much?" Rachel teases.

Max ignores her comment, but Rachel can see her ears go a little red as she walks over to look at Rachel's half-finished masterpiece. "What's this supposed to be?"

"A doe. I see it in my dreams sometimes, thought maybe I should paint it out," Rachel muses, missing the way Max goes completely still next to her. She brushes her fingers against the wet paint. "I've been really into that kind of spiritual shit recently. I don't know. Thoughts?"

"Have you had any other dreams?" Max's voice is eerily somber. Rachel frowns.

"I mean, no? Sometimes I have dreams where we make out, but I guess that's different, huh?" she laughs, but then Max grabs her by the shoulders, kisses her firm on the mouth, and _woah_. Rachel sinks into it quickly and thumbs the line of her jaw, the cold of the wall and the heat of her body and her head is spinning. Max pulls away after a few seconds, raises her right hand, palm flat, and -

Rachel's fingers come off yellow from her paint on the wall. "I've been really into that kind of spiritual shit recently. I don't know. Thoughts?"

"I think it looks great. It would probably look better if you finished it instead of ogling me," Max jokes.

"Your fault for picking that outfit of mine to wear." Rachel gives her a cool once over. "Still as hot as the first time."

Max rolls her eyes and smiles and time becomes linear again.

2.

Max is at a Vortex Club party. Could this night get any more surreal?

She's standing all alone, looking a bit out of place, but it's clear she's made an effort to dress up: chain on ripped jeans on flannel. Chloe's really rubbing off on her - or maybe not, because it seems she's nursing a cup of orange juice when Rachel beckons her over.

"You didn't tell me you were coming," Rachel whispers as Max sits down in their little makeshift circle on the floor.

"Chloe convinced me to but she's disappeared off somewhere with Steph already," Max explains sheepishly. "Sorry I didn't text or give you a heads up."

"Doesn't matter. It's no problem, just--"

"Hey! Newbie gets the next turn," Logan interrupts, pointing at Max with his pinkie. "Truth or dare?"

"That's what this is?" Max asks dubiously, and her eyes widen, taking in the whole group: Dana, Juliet, Courtney, Taylor, Victoria, Zachary. Rachel's assuming she'll have to step in and avert the situation, but Max responds rather confidently, albeit unexpectedly. "Dare."

Logan hums, eyes lidded. His face is drunkenly flushed when he makes his request, and there's a stupid grin plastered on his face which can't mean anything good.

"Max, I dare you to kiss Rachel. Fifteen seconds at least."

"Logan!" Dana yelps and swats him on the arm he has over his shoulder, eliciting a laughing _wha-a-at_? from him. "My god, he's so wasted right now, I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Victoria responds in unison with Rachel, but she keeps going. "I bet Max would like it."

Rachel's smile turns a little sharp, feeling a slow simmering anger boil in her stomach. Victoria looks a little scared, almost, and she hates how she enjoys it. "You know what, Victoria, I'm sure she'd like it just like--"

Max grabs her by the collar of her shirt and smashes their lips together, swallowing the words _you did_ into her mouth. Rachel kisses back immediately, forgetting all about Victoria and whatever stupid comeback was just at the tip of her tongue. She's very vaguely aware of Logan's tipsy cheer in the back followed by Dana's groan, but it's like she's in a movie with all the sound off, the camera a slow zoom of everything she feels: panning across where their lips meet, Max's hand fisting the back of her bomber jacket, and finally, the patch of shirt square over her heart.

Max pushes her away with her right palm over Rachel's chest and a familiar just-kissed glaze in her eyes. Her hand is flat where it meets her crop top, arm extended all the way -

"Truth or dare?" Logan grins at Max from the other side of the circle, looking like he has an idea brewing.

"Truth."

3.

There's probably a good reason Rachel, Max, and Chloe have movie nights together, and not just two out of the three. It becomes obvious the Friday Chloe has to miss for a shift, where Max suggests an anime in the same breath Rachel suggests a Hitchcock classic. The only solution is to steal the remote.

"Dick! Give it," Max demands, but the levity of her voice clues Rachel into the fact that she's joking. "We're not watching another one of your shitty horror movies--"

"Oh yeah? What are you gonna do about it?" Rachel teases, holding the remote as far away from Max as she can. With little pause, Max climbs onto her, straddles her lap and immediately goes for it. It's almost too choreographed, and Rachel can only watch as Max snatches it from her and triumphantly holds it up in the air. That's not really her focus now, anyway, because Max's shorts are riding up a little on her thighs and Rachel has to shake away blurry thoughts of sliding her hand up to lift her head.

She looks to where Max is hovering silently above her. She was staring, Max knows she was staring, and her face goes hot. The air is saturated with tension in an almost sickeningly sweet way, so Rachel gets out of it the only way she knows how to; by flirting.

"What would it take from me for you to give it back?" she asks, making her voice honeyed. Her hands land on Max's thighs, whose eyes widen a smidgen, like this wasn't really what she was expecting, but she doesn't exactly back off.

"I think you know," Max responds, sounding a little breathless, before dipping her head down and kissing Rachel. She only has a few seconds to stew in the fact that Max is on top before she feels Max swipe at her bottom lip and her mind goes blissfully blank. Her body starts moving on autopilot: a few tugs at Max's lip, the circular movements of her palm on Max's hip bone, the roll of her tongue against Max's. When they finally break for air Max's hand shifts a little behind Rachel's head, her wrist cocking upwards -

"Oh yeah? What are you gonna do about it?" Max walks straight off the couch and around Rachel to snatch it straight out of the air, faster than she can react. She groans. "You're too good."

"Definitely been told that before," Max mumbles, to which Rachel laughs off with an _in your dreams._

Max is about to switch the channel when Rachel notices a cut on her bottom lip, the blood threatening to trickle down her chin.

"Max, your mouth is bleeding," she says, and the way Max's whole face flushes is equally parts confusing and familiar.

+1

In the end, things go down a lot easier and quicker than either of them had expected them to. It's another failed trio get together, and needless to say stargazing without a pickup truck sure is a different experience. It's slightly more uncomfortable but not particularly unenjoyable, especially when Rachel has a sleepy Max Caulfield keeping her company.

She's carding her hands through Max's hair, watching the gossamer flutter of her eyelids in her sleep, and she can't help the words from tumbling out.

"I'm so into you," Rachel whispers, so quietly she herself can barely hear it, but Max does and stiffens where she's lying. "Shit... Max, you're awake?"

"Yeah," Max yawns. "Actually... just woke up. When you said that."

Rachel goes dead silent, and it's like Max keeps expecting her to say something but she won't. Being at a loss of words isn't something she's used to or knows how to handle.

"Rach, did you mean it?" is all Max asks after a beat, and her heart is pumping in her chest. It's like a shot of adrenaline straight into her veins.

"What do you think? Of course. There were so many times I've wanted to kiss you this past year but it's like the universe is conspiring against me," Rachel huffs, letting it all pour out. Some complicated expressions flash over Max's face, but they're all underlined with a glowing kind of disbelief.

"You... wanted to kiss me, not just to hook up or something," Max repeats, and Rachel's face flushes uncomfortably. There's a dawning realization on Max's face.

"Yes, like romantically. If you don't like me back, just say so. You don't need to drag it--"

"I do," Max interrupts. "Like you back, I mean. A lot."

"Oh. Wow." A minute ago Rachel thought Max might never want to talk to her again. Sixty short seconds later and she might have a girlfriend. Maybe the universe does care about her after all.

"That's all?" Max asks, her face shining with a smile, and Rachel leans in to give her a sweet kiss. It makes her warmer than any of the blankets or stars ever could.

" _That's_ all," Rachel replies softly. "Girlfriends?"

"Just like that?"

"If you wanted it to, it could be. Just like that." Rachel's starting to think she's overstepped when Max hums a reply.

"Girlfriends."

Rachel holds Max's right hand tight for the rest of the night. There's not even a twitch.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm not active at all but my tumblr is milfysz please leave a comment


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